An iPad often sits in another room until you need it, and then it is empty. You can show your iPad’s battery on a Mac in two places: Find My and Finder. Both show a battery icon, not the exact percentage. Here is how each one works, and how to get the number in your menu bar.
Find My
- Open the Find My app on your Mac.
- Click Devices.
- Select your iPad. A battery icon is under its name.
The iPad must use the same Apple Account, with Find My turned on, and it must be online. You get an icon, not a percentage.
Finder, with a cable
- Connect the iPad to your Mac and unlock it.
- Open a Finder window and select the iPad in the sidebar.
- Look at the top of the window. A battery icon is next to the name.
The first time, tap Trust on the iPad and enter its passcode.
On the iPad itself
The iPad’s status bar shows its battery in the top right corner. To see a number there, open Settings on the iPad, tap Battery, and turn on Battery Percentage. That helps only when the iPad is in front of you.
What macOS does not show
- No exact percentage on the Mac. Find My and Finder show an icon.
- Not in the menu bar, and not in the Batteries widget. See which devices the Batteries widget shows on a Mac.
- No alert when the iPad gets low in another room.
Show iPad battery on a Mac, in the menu bar
BatteryBud is a battery monitor for Mac. It shows your iPad’s exact percentage in your Mac’s menu bar, over Wi-Fi. The setup needs a cable once.
- Connect the iPad to your Mac with a cable, and unlock it.
- Tap Trust on the iPad, then enter its passcode.
- In Finder, select the iPad in the sidebar and click General.
- Turn on Show this iPad when on Wi-Fi, then click Apply.
After that you do not need the cable. The iPad and the Mac must be on the same Wi-Fi network. BatteryBud reads the iPad over Wi-Fi, keeps a history of its level, and records its battery health and charge cycles. A low battery alert tells you to charge it before you need it.
A locked iPad that is not charging can drop off Wi-Fi. BatteryBud then shows the last level and when it last saw the iPad.
The steps are the same for a phone. See how to show your iPhone battery on a Mac.